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February 14, 1980 - The Faces at the FeederPage 10A The Faces at the feeder One of the most enjoyable outdoor ac- tivities enjoyed indoors is watching the birds at your feeder in the comfort of your home. This is probably true at this mid- winter time, when we are all starting to get a bit fed up with the same old weather each day. A few weeks back I spoke about the chickadee family at our feeders. This black - capped chickadee, with its new cousin, the tufted titmouse, really livens up the ac- tivities around the feeder. Of course the hogs at the feeder are the starlings. I grit my teeth at them as they devour just about anything I put out. A bit of interest about starlings at this time of the year is that they are an indicator of better times ahead. By this I mean they are indicators of longer hours of daylight and warmer days coming. You can tell this by watching the color change in their bills. What was a dark blackish - colored bill during the winter now is starting to turn to yellow. Look for it the next time this grubber comes to your feeder. Of course, no feeder would be complete without the woodpeckers, and this year we have just about all of them at our suet bags. The regular comer, of course, is the- small black - and -white downy that has the small red cap on the male. Almost twice his size is the hairy woodpecker, almost a replica in appearance of the smaller downy. Hairy woodpeckers are much less common and you should count yourself lucky if you have them around. If you do it's probably because you have a good stand of hardwood trees nearby. Without trees you'll have a difficult time attracting woodpeckers to your feeders. Varieties of Woodpeckers Besides the black- and -white woodpeckers, we have the upside -down bird, as some call him, the white - breasted nuthatch. Like the woodpecker, this bird clings to the trunk of the tree and, again like the woodpecker, is seldom seen perched on a limb like other birds. There's another nuthatch, smaller in size, called the red - breasted nuthatch, but you have to have good stands of evergreens around for this bird to be a regular visitor. The largest of all woodpeckers we have visiting our feeder is the yellow-shafted- flicker, the bird almost the size of a pigeon. You'll not forget this handsome, red - topped woodpecker, with its soft browns and grays, once you've seen him, and you'll never miss him if he's digging out a worm or borer from some old rotten limb, for he really makes the chips fly and the noise of his actions can be heard throughout the woods. The last woodpecker that we have, the red - bellied is a relatively newcomer to the North. Like the cardinal, titmouse, and mockingbird, he comes from down South. This is another ladder - backed woodpecker like the downy and hairy, but even much larger than the latter, not quite as big as the flicker but much more brazen and colorful. His red cap fairly glows. Look for this new arrival for he is in the area, and others beside myself have him as a regular feeder. Do Great Amount of Good Most of the birds, like woodpeckers, nuthatches and creepers that cling to the trunks of trees and limbs and forgo the perching we so often think of when we think of birds, prefer suet to seeds. They are mostly meat eaters. Worms, grubs and insect eggs are their specialty, and because of this they eke out a living all winter long on frozen dinners they dig out of the trees. The amount of good these birds do is almost impossible to comprehend, but remember, don't cut all the dead out of your trees because without a ready food supply you ' start to eliminate these most useful birds. House finches are seed eaters, and like the chickadee, titmouse and cardinal they are always eagerly awaiting you to fill the feeder with sunflowers, thistle seeds, bread crumbs, wildbird seed, and so forth. The house finch comes in a variety of tones and colors. The adult males are painted with a raspberry red, while the immatures and females range from streaked brown to tints of dull yellow. Everyone should have cardinals at their feeder. That bright red male and the more subdued beautiful olive -gray female make a striking couple when posed against a background of snow. These birds, like the finch, have specially- adapted bills for crushing seeds and they use them well in breaking open the sunflower seeds and extracting that choice morsel between the shells. ftcniw) @E UNQ[flTN Of course they have to compete with the noisy bluejay, who comes in and gulps down quantities of seeds, only to fly off and hide them for later use. Bluejays and squirrels, along with the starlings, are the real bandits of the feeder. Yet you can beat them by buying special feeders, or with a little ingenuity from the master home craftsman who can usually devise a contraption to keep them out. As we destroy the habitat of a species we remove them from our view. Lucky to Have Brown Creeper I'd like to introduce you to one last visitor to our feeder. It's a rather shy not too common bird; one that acts like a wood- pecker but isn't one. It's the tiny brown creeper. About the size of a chickadee, it works round and round the tree trunk, checking every crevice in the bark for eggs, insects and larvae. If you have this little brown bird at your feeder you are really one of the lucky few for many people have never even seen this bird no less have it at their feeder. It is one of the few local birds I have never been able to find the nest of, and should any of you ever come across one, please let me know. The nest, I'm told, is usually behind an old slab of bark and so this means old, big trees. Forests of this type are getting harder and harder to find and so you should know what I'm going to say ... the bird is going to become harder and harder to find because as we destroy the habitat of a species we remove him from our area. Nature has adapted this bird so that its long curved bill will fit in places where other birds cannot reach. Each bird fits in a place where other birds do not go. Each bird usually has a slot in the scheme of things, so that that individual can make a go at life in its own particular way. Since the creeper is a trunk clinger, like the woodpecker, look for him around your suet. In the meantime keep the feeders filled with your favorite seeds and goodies. Keep the suet out of reach of the squirrels and raccoons and enjoy your bird watching from your kitchen, dining room, living room or even your bedroom -- I know I do. PAULSTOUTENBURGH February 14, 1980 BROWN CREEPER - -This uncommon chickadee -size bird clings to the trees like a woodpecker and can occasionally be seen at our suet feeders here on Long Island. Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh C }O We sell, service, & ins ell airtight wood & Mal �J ( shoves & acoaswia (616) 283 -6622 Southampton Stove Co. West Main Street, Southampton, N.Y. LANGE DANISH AIRTIGHT WOOD, COAL AND COOK STOVES - RED, BLUE, GREEN, BLACK, ENAMEL, BLACK CAST IRON NEW MAKES & MODELS Free Flow Russo Olsberg Weso Chappee' Frytonden Petit Godin HS. Tarm- Boiler- Comforter Hearthstone Soapstone Supra Domertic Hot Water Cawley Kresno Tempwood Therm -Kon- Hot -Air Efel Lida Tirolia Didier Hydraulic Energy Harvester Nashua Upland Log Splitters Fisher Garrison Woodstock Soapstone Sales & Rentals Racquetball, Anyone"? A move is under way to establish a private racquetball /squash /hand- ball club on the North Fork. So far, more than 50 families have expressed an interest in becoming charter members. We are talking about building two regulation courts with locker -room facilities in the Cutchogue- Peconic- Southold area. Shares will be priced between $500 and $1,000 -- depending on the number of charter members. If you are prepared to make that kind of investment to establish the North Fork's first indoor racquet club, please return the attached coupon immediately to Racquetball, Box F, Greenport, N.Y. 11944. ❑ Yes, I'm interested in joining the new racquet club. Name: Phone Number: Street: Village: Zip: Here are the names and addresses of other families and individuals who might be interested: Metalbestus & Brick Chimneys ( v1 Chirn4y Cleaning Equipment Member Wood Energy Institute (616) 283 -6622 Southampton Stove Co. West Main Street, Southampton, N.Y. LANGE DANISH AIRTIGHT WOOD, COAL AND COOK STOVES - RED, BLUE, GREEN, BLACK, ENAMEL, BLACK CAST IRON NEW MAKES & MODELS Free Flow Russo Olsberg Weso Chappee' Frytonden Petit Godin HS. Tarm- Boiler- Comforter Hearthstone Soapstone Supra Domertic Hot Water Cawley Kresno Tempwood Therm -Kon- Hot -Air Efel Lida Tirolia Didier Hydraulic Energy Harvester Nashua Upland Log Splitters Fisher Garrison Woodstock Soapstone Sales & Rentals Racquetball, Anyone"? A move is under way to establish a private racquetball /squash /hand- ball club on the North Fork. So far, more than 50 families have expressed an interest in becoming charter members. We are talking about building two regulation courts with locker -room facilities in the Cutchogue- Peconic- Southold area. Shares will be priced between $500 and $1,000 -- depending on the number of charter members. If you are prepared to make that kind of investment to establish the North Fork's first indoor racquet club, please return the attached coupon immediately to Racquetball, Box F, Greenport, N.Y. 11944. ❑ Yes, I'm interested in joining the new racquet club. Name: Phone Number: Street: Village: Zip: Here are the names and addresses of other families and individuals who might be interested: